This invention relates to enhancement of x-ray images, and in particular to the enhancement of imaging capabilities using spatial heterodyne image processing to enhance visualization of a target tissue.
One of the co-inventors herein, Christoph Rose-Petruck, has previously performed scatter-imaging experiments with gold-based nanoparticle enhancement agents, which are reported in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/645,938, published with publication number 2013/0095499A1 on Apr. 18, 2013. That patent application is also incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for its discussions of relevant background technology, techniques of sample preparation and nanoparticle treatment or functionalization or administration, and techniques of X-ray processing or imaging, inter alia. More specific information related to the present invention has now been published in an article entitled X-ray Spatial Frequency Heterodyne Imaging of Protein-based Nanobubble Contrast Agents, in Optics Express (2014) Vol. 22 No. 19. That article and its bibliography is also incorporated herein by reference for purposes of describing and enabling the invention and its equivalents as set forth below and in the claims.